On 9 October 2018, English PEN was delighted to present the PEN Pinter Prize 2018 to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. At an event at the British Library, she accepted the prize from Lady Antonia Fraser, Harold Pinter’s widow, and delivered an address entitled Shut Up And Write in which she discussed her literary inspirations, what it means to be an ‘African writer’ and a feminist.

Adichie also announced writer and lawyer Waleed Abulkhair, who is currently serving a 15 year prison sentence in Saudi Arabian for peaceful human rights activism, as the PEN Pinter International Writer of Courage 2018. The prize was accepted on Waleed’s behalf by Maureen Freely, chair of English PEN’s trustees.